Director: Hunter Johnson
Year: 2020
Country: USA
Alternate Titles: N/A
Genre: Supernatural
Plot:
Heading out for a trip together, a troubled young woman and the rest of her therapy group head out to her professors’ mountain retreat to continue their treatment together, but when they begin mysteriously disappearing they begin to question their experiences while trying to stay alive from the forces out to kill them.
Review:
There was a lot to like with this one. Among it’s best features is the impressive nature of bringing the cliched notion of the individuals’ fears coming to kill them. The concept employed here of the therapy group coming together for each of their irrational measures as a group allows for this to build some intriguing setups as the group reveals the phobias to work on. The therapy sessions of everyone coming out and admitting how they’re afraid of the things they fear are quite fun as the more unconventional and irrational setups for them to overcome are what ends up allowing this part of the film to work as it does.
This also brings out quite a lot with its exploitation of their fears coming to life. The opening attack on the victim suffering a breakdown while being attacked by various figures is a fantastic opening, much like the later freakout of the one victim in their car thinking the fear is coming true and crashes as a result. An ambush on another victim out in the woods by pulling them underground is exceptionally creepy and chilling, while later attacks like the encounter in a trapped garage or the bizarre lake sequence feature some enjoyable setups. With a finale that has some fine twists in the setup, a decent amount of action and some solid gore, there are some likable elements here.
It does have some flaws to it. One of the films’ issues is the exaggerated build-up to their arrival and settling in at the cabin, where we get far too much going on here before finally getting there. It didn’t need to hammer home their characters as much as it does, while the lengthy amount of time of them hanging out before everything starts going wrong gets a bit slow at times. The other issue here is the wholly unexplained nature of the strange ooze that’s found on their bodies which doesn’t get explained how it works, where it comes from or how it affects their bodies since they disappear after being ingested and killed as their bodies are completely gone with no explanation. Keeping it’s low-budget in mind, these are the main factors against this one.
Overview: ***/5
A wholly fun and enjoyable indie effort that manages far more right elements than it’s minor flaws, this emerges as a wholly watchable indie effort with plenty for those who appreciate that kind of style present. Fans of this indie-presentation style or the creative crew will definitely appreciate this one, while viewers who aren’t into this kind of indie film might not have as much fun with it and should heed caution.
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